Our Blog & Weekly Highlights

# **You Can’t Fake Transparency**

### *My Visit to CareOne at Somerset*

I’ve toured a lot of assisted living and memory care communities. Some are absolutely beautiful. Some have all the bells and whistles. But I’ve always believed that a beautiful building means very little if the people inside of it don’t make you feel good about the care being provided.

My recent visit to **CareOne at Somerset** reminded me exactly why I feel that way.

I was lucky enough to tour the community with **Kristina, their Director of Sales and Marketing**, and I can honestly say that if my visit had ended after simply sitting down and talking with Kristina, I would have walked away impressed.

There was no sales pitch. No trying to steer the conversation in a certain direction. No excuses and no attempt to convince me that everything was perfect.

She was simply **honest, clear and transparent**—not only about the community itself, but about CareOne at Somerset’s overall approach to care.

And here’s the thing about transparency: **you can’t fake it.**

When I tour communities with my clients, one of the first things I tell them is, **“Don’t get caught up in the chandeliers and the furnishings.”**

Of course you want a community to be clean, comfortable and welcoming. But we’re not shopping for a hotel. We’re looking for a place where someone may be receiving care and potentially making one of the biggest transitions of their life.

So I tell families to watch the people.

**How does the staff interact with the seniors?**

Do they know their names? Do they stop and talk to them? Are people smiling? Are they engaged? Does the staff look like they genuinely want to be there?

And just as importantly, **how are they treating you during the tour?**

Does the Sales Director listen to you and ask about the person you love, or do you feel like you’re being sold a car?

Because this isn’t about closing a sale.

**This is about care.**

This is about trusting someone with a person who means everything to you. It’s about a transition that can completely change someone’s life. That deserves more than a sales pitch.

That’s one of the reasons Kristina stood out to me.

As a Senior Transition Specialist, I’m not looking for someone to tell me what they think I want to hear. I need to know what a community does well, what its limitations may be, and most importantly, whether the people I refer there are going to be treated with dignity and compassion.

I also had the opportunity to meet their **Certified Dementia Specialist** and really tour the community. I was able to see the rooms, common areas, dining rooms and a lovely covered porch. All of these areas were beautiful, welcoming and extremely well maintained.

But as nice as those spaces were, **they weren’t what impressed me the most.**

I got to see the staff at work.

You can decorate a beautiful lobby. You can stage a beautiful apartment. You can have an impressive dining room and gorgeous common areas.

**But you cannot stage genuine care.**

As I walked through memory care, people were engaged. I wasn’t seeing people simply sitting in chairs sleeping while televisions played in the background. There was interaction. There were smiles. The staff members were friendly and welcoming, but more importantly, I could see them **actually engaging with the people they were caring for.**

Maybe CareOne at Somerset isn’t the Taj Mahal, but I’ll take **good care, engaged seniors and smiling staff over chandeliers any day.**

Another feature that really stood out to me is something you don’t find in every assisted living community: **CareOne at Somerset has a skilled rehabilitation component right there on the same campus.**

Think about how valuable that can be.

If someone living in assisted living becomes ill, has a hospitalization, or needs short-term skilled rehabilitation before safely returning to their apartment, they may have the opportunity to receive that rehabilitation right there and then transition back to their assisted living apartment once their rehab stay is complete.

For seniors and their families, that type of continuity can make an already difficult transition feel a little less overwhelming.

I have walked through many assisted living and memory care communities, and some visits simply stay with you.

**CareOne at Somerset is one of those visits for me.**

Yes, I loved the rooms. I loved the common areas, the dining spaces and that beautiful covered porch.

But what I will remember most is **the people**.

The transparency from Kristina. The friendliness of the staff. The engagement I witnessed in memory care. And most importantly, the smiles I saw on the faces of the seniors who live there.

At the end of the day, chandeliers are beautiful. Furniture can be replaced. Buildings can be renovated.

**But genuine compassion, good care and transparency come from people.**

And you simply can’t fake that.